from The Sunday Times

Pot of gold awaits sleuth who cracks literary code

The treasure hunt craze triggered by Masquerade in the 1970s is to be recreated by a novelist burying clues to $3m, says Dalya Alberge

Dalya Alberge

IT IS usually the author who makes a fortune from a best-seller but a new series of books is to offer readers the chance to get rich, too.

The Endgame trilogy of adventure stories by James Frey, whose previous works include The Lorien Legacies and I Am Number Four, will challenge readers to solve puzzles, riddles and codes with prizes totalling $3m (£1.8m) available to those who are successful.

The first person who solves the puzzles in Endgame: The Calling, the first book, will win $500,000 (£300,000) in gold coins. For the second book the prize rises to $1m and for the third $1.5m.

The rights to the series are being sold to publishers in 27 countries and Frey is working on a script for the first of three films of the series, which will be financed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy is published by HarperCollins….

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